Was heiBt hier Fernerkundung?
Translation of Technical-Scientific Concepts
Anita Schwender
Universidad Tecno16gica Nacional Regional Santa Fe
Lavaisse, AR<lOOO Santa Fe, Argentina
Hans-Peter Biihr
Institute for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, University of Karlsruhe
Englerstrasse 7, D-7500 Karlsruhe 1, Germany
Email: bahr@ipf.bau-verm.uni-karlsruhe.de
ISPRS COlnmission VI
"Human beings do not live in the objective world
alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as
ordinarily understood, but are very much at the
mercy of the particular language which has become
the medium of expression for their society. It is
quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts the
reality essentially without the use of language and
that language is merely an incidental means of solving
specific problems of communication or reflection
... We see and hear and otherwise experience
very largely as we do because that language habits
of our community predispose certain choices of
interpretation ".
Abstract
Edward Sapir
Although English is on the best way to become
the "Lingua Franca" in science and technology - or
perhaps precisely due to this reason - there is a
growing demand for technical-scientific translations,
either from English into other languages or vice versa.
Thus both translators and readers are faced with
difficulties which sometimes interfere with straight
forward communication. By means of examples the
authors discuss in this paper some of the challenges
posed on translators and readers and stress the
importance of adopting common criteria.
1
Introduction
Words, like human beings, are born into a society
and shaped by their cultural environment. They must
conform to preestablished grammatical, phonetical,
orthographic, etc. patterns and rules in order to be
accepted by their language community.
When words or whole concepts are translated into
other languages or from other languages into am
own, a newbirth occurs: the lexical item or lexeme
(word) must now be submitted to other linguistic
rules and patterns, i. e. those pertaining to the
language into which its meaning is to be transferred.
This process is frequently disregarded and therefore
so many synonymous expressions flourish whenever a
new concept makes its appearance. It is at this point
that some training in Linguistics helps" translators"
to scrutinize with true objectivity both the foreign
language and their own so as to preserve, by applying
common criteria, terminological precision without
"polluting" language.
Zusammenfassung
Es existiert eine gesteigerte Nachfrage nach technisch-wissenschaftlichen Ubersetzungen, und zwar
vom Englischen in andere Sprachen wie auch umgekehrt. Dabei sehen sich sowohl Ubersetzer als
auch Leser in Schwierigkeiten, die. manchm;;tl das
Definieren von Begriffen und die direkte, einfache
Kommunikation erschweren. Anhand von Beispielen
aus Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung diskutieren
die Autoren einige der Herausforderungen, welche
sich Ubersetzern und Lesern stellen, unter Betonung
aHgemeingiiltiger Kri terien.
How words are created and translated will be
analyzed and different approaches will be forwarded
for further discussion.
334
2
f. He uses a "string" of words to describe as closely
as possible his invention but, finding it too long,
he shortens it using different methods and these
abbreviated versions become words:
The Creation of TechnicalScientific Words and Expressions
Radio Detection and Ranging = R.A.D.A.R = radar
Light Amplification by Simulated Emission of
Radiation = laser
Picture element = pixel
Modulator-demodulator = Modem
Whenever a machine is deviced or a novel technique
or method is developed, when scientists discover yet
anot.her unknown phenomenon, it. lIlUSt, be givell a
name and it. is t.he privilege and t.he respollsibility
of the scientist or technician to coin the appropriate
term. Rarely. if ever, he invents a completely
new word: he reaches back to his old friendly
linguistic background, to lexical items he is familiar
with, and he manipulates them resorting to various
mechanisms.
g. He coins acronyms and uses them as nouns
GIS
SPOT
I/O
h. He combines acronyms and abbreviations with
existing words:
a. He uses Latin or Greek elements (morphemes)
or words to form compounds, adding appropriate
endings:
CCD cameras - radar emission
IR pictures - pixel analysis
GIS technology - laser printer
I/O devices
PHOTO-GRAM-METR-IC (English ending which
marks an adjective)
PHOTO-GRAM-METR-ISCH (German ending
which marks an adjective)
PIIOTO-GRAM-(M)ETR-ICO (Spanisch ending
which marks an adjective)
PHOTO-GRAM-METR-IQUE (French ending which
marks an adjective)
PHOTO-GRAM-(M)ETR-IA (Spanish ending which
marks a noun and denotes a discipline)
Latin/Greek
morphemes
Words in
Lor G
morphemes
a
Words in
m-tongue
b
Foreign
words
b
d
c
Modif.
Process
Abbreviat
h
h
~n-.tongue
Foreign
words
Existing
techno words
Strings of
words
Acronyms and
Abbreviations
h. He uses Latin or Greek morphemes or words and
adds them to words in his own language:
c
e
tf
I
h
h
g
Table 1 Different approaches in the creation of }Vords.
The letters correspond to the listing above
PHOTO-APPARAT (German)
HALB-QUANTITATIV (German)
SEMI-ONDA (Spanish)
INFRA-RED (English)
INFRA-ROUGE (French)
INFRA-VERMELHO (Portuguese)
And what happens once he "emits" these words?
They begin a life of their own, unfolding their multiple
semantic pot.entialit.ies, all of t.hem open, unexplored.
At its infantile stage a word is used and abused.
Sometimes different. versions coexist:
c. He uses foreign words and combines them with
words in his own language:
workstation - workingstation
gray scale - tonal scale - step wedge
DESKTOP-OBERFLACHE (!) (English + German)
RESEAUPLATTE (French + German)
RESEAUSCANNER (French + English)
IMPRESORA OFFSET (Spanish + English)
It expands its meaning as the field it covers becomes
wider; it is adopt.ed by other disciplines and its
meaning is transferred, assimilated or adapt.ed. In
summary: everybody feels free to bend it to whatever
his neds may be.
d. He combines words in his own language:
"LINGUISTIC", coined by Ferdinand de Saussure
to be used in the context of human oral and
written language, and "SEMANTICS" has been
adopted by image interpreters (INTERPRETER:
person who gives an immediate translation of words
spoken in another language - Oxford University
Press Dictionary) referring to patterns and rules
that govern the conveyance of meaning in digital
photogrammetry. Thus, instead of creating a new
word (in Medicine the concept is covered by the word
"SEMIOLOGY") a new field of meaning has been
added to the old one.
HARDWARE (English)
AEROESPACIAL (Spanish)
FERNERKUNDUNG(GamM)
SENSOREAMENTO REMOTO (Portuguese)
OCCUPATION DU SOL (French)
e. lIe uses already existing technical words and
transforms them to suit his needs:
PIXEL ... MIXEL ... VOXEL
HARDWARE ... SOFTWARE
COMPUTER ... TRANSPUTER
DTM
GPS
AP
...
FIRMWARE
335
As time goes by and the word acquires more status
(more and more people use· it) the convenience of
defining clearly its semantic range makes itself felt.
Scientists and technicians approach this problem in
different ways.
3
a. Some give a concise and clear definition:
So far the history of created words but what happens
when a word or an expression is to be translated into
another language? Who translates in the first place?
Sometimes a professional translator is appointed;
sometimes scientists and technicians attempt the job
themselves. It should be borne in mind, however, that
to fulfill the task satisfactorily a thorough knowledge
of the subject is not enough: some linguistic criteria
are also welcome.
"Die Geomorphologie untersucht die OberfHichenformen der Erde, das Relief, studiert und analysiert
Prozesse, die zur Ausformung des Reliefs gefiihrt
haben bzw. es derzeit iiberformen und versucht eine
zeitliche Einstufung des realen Reliefs und seiner
Teile".
F. Wieneke (ZPF 2/91)
The Translation of Technical-Scientific Words and
Concepts
A foreign language is the expression of another
cultural environment. It segments reality in a
different way and conveys meaning through a set
of conventions and rules which are not necessarily
similar to those we have internalized with our own
cultural patterns. Thus, we may force meaning upon
certain descriptions of events because of the difficulty
of standing aside from our mother tongue which is
a habit and a cultural non-est-disputandurn (Whorf,
1949).
b. Some, clarify concepts which, in spite of being
erroneous, have been generally accepted:
"Si bien la designaci6n imagen digital parece un
contrasentido desde el punto de vista linguistico,
su uso se ha generalizado en lugar de imagen
digitalizada que seria una expresi6n mas correct a" .
H.-P. BKhr, 1991
If
we
translate
G IS as "Geographisches Informationssystem" (German) or "Sistema de Informacion geografica" (Spanish) readers will be mislead because what is meant
by "geographisch" in the German language covers a
different semantic range than "geografico" in Spanish.
Perhaps "Geoinformationssystem" and "Sistema de
Geoinformaci6n" would bring both concepts closer to
the original.
c. Some just give some synonym to guide the reader
and avoid confusions:
" ... simulierte Buttons oder Schalter ... "
M. Gross (ZPF 5/91)
d. or they give incomplete definitions which merely
serve the purpose of the moment:
" ... Aliasingeffect (Falschberechnung der Farbvalenz
... )"
Without some linguistic knowledge we are unable
to see the foreign language objectively and are thus
liable to be influenced by language habits of which we
are not even conscious due to an unavoidable pattern
of habitual thought.
M. Gross (ZPF 5/91)
" ... Lacken (Lamer) = salzhaltiger Flachsee ... "
A furniture advertisement in a large store in
Karlsruhe (Germany) offered "Bad Design" referring
to bathroom arrangements.
Csaplovics and Senftner (ZPF 2/91)
On the other hand, a translator without thorough
knowledge of the subject he is translating produces
his own layman's interpretation of the original text
and translates it cloaking concepts in words furnished
by dictionaries, which are not always capable of
providing him with the correct lexical item. Thus
he may miss the point generating confusion and/or
misunderstandings:
At this point of evolution, a word can be considered
to have attained maturity and with it the right to
appear as an entry in our technical dictionaries and
glossaries. Its meaning becomes fixed and so does
its spelling as well as its grammatical, phonetic and
syntactical features.
hardware - mercaderia dura (Spanish) instead of using
the same word or the technical equivalent "soporte
fisico"
scoria - cagafierro (Spanish) which is the obsolete synonym for "escoria"and sounds absolutely
ridiculous
Sometimes words are given different translations and
these different versions coexist as synonyms during
a certain time until one of them attains supremacy
336
And in almost every language we would arrive to
the same conclusion. Thus, many equivalents for
"Remote Sensing" flourished in an attempt to mirror
the semnatic content of the expression:
while the other(s) fossilize, fall out of use and are
finally forgotten (see Table 2).
Other words which originally shared a common
semantic field gradually adopt different ranges of
meaning within that semantic field until they crease
to be synonyms (see Table 3).
English
Remote
Sensing
obsolete
in use
Remote
Sensing
Sensoramiento
remoto
Fernerkundung
Work(ing)
Station
coexisting
another
language
German
Teledeteccion
Percepcion remota
Spanish
Workstation(sfen)
Workingstation( sf en)
German
Arbeitsstation
Escala de grises
Escala tonal
Valores de gris
Tonos de gris
Cluster
Nube de puntos
Grupo homogeneo
Cluster
Kluster
Punktwolke
Marcas de alcance
Marcas de intervalo
Gray scale
Tonal scale
Step wedge
Cluster
Range
marks
Fernerkundung (German)
Teledetection (French)
Teledetec~ao (Europ. Portuguese)
Sensoreamento Remoto (Bras. Port.)
Teledetecci6n (Spanish)
Percepci6n Remota (Spanish)
Taverzekeles (U ngarian)
"Remote Sensing" was rejected or only reluctantly
accepted by very few languages. Spanish linguists
rejected the proposed "Sensoramiento Remoto" in
favour of Teledetecci6n or Percepci6n Remota.
"Photogrammetry" however, entered the vocabulary
of almost every language without difficulty and was
easily adapted. Why is it that these two lexical items
arose so different reactions?
Spanish
Spanish
German
5
Portug.
Table 2
Examples of T~mporary Synonyms (by obsolescence)
English
Scanning
Data
processing
Former
Synonyms
Barrido
Muestreo
Procesamiento
de datos
Tratamiento
de datos
Present
Meaning
Scanning Nature
Scannmg a picture or-image
Mechanical, electrical, computational or any·other
transformation of data from
one form into another
Systematic manIpulation of
data by means of a computer
so as to obtain information
There will probably be general assent to the
proposition that a common terminology would
contribute considerably to the understanding among
scientists all over the world. But he who asents
often sees in such a statement nothing more than a
platitudinous admission of translation difficulties on
the one hand or an intent to subvert the efforts of
those who try to preserve the purity of a particular
language on the other. To see only thus far is to miss
the point, to be blind to one of the important nodes
of interconnection between language, culture, science
and technology.
Another
Language
Spanish
Spanish
Table 3
Examples of Temporary Synonyms (by divergence)
4
Towards a Common Terminology
Scientists in the Middle Ages communicated in Latin.
Nowadays they mostly communicate in English but
Latin stilI impregnates very much scientific language
and an ever growing tendency towards using words
of Latin origin in learned speech is evident, not only
in English but also in other languages. Therefore, a
return to the sources when seeking for a new word
or expression seems an interesting approach, worthy
to be taken into account: scientific-technological
language should not be tied to any nationality
but contribute universally to the straightforward
transference of knowledge.
Photogrammetryand Remote Sensing
"Remote Sensing" was first used in American
English during the early 60's in the context
of military reconnaissance systems. Specialists of
different nationalities picked it up and used it as
a borrowed expression in their own language for
many years. In the early 70's Prof. Schwidefsky
coined the German equivalent "Fernerkundung", a
creation which was generally accepted and soon
made its way into the German technical vocabulary.
The corresponding term in other languages was
created and, so to say, "promoted" by administrative
and governmental agencies at latest with the
foundation or renaming of the respective National
Societies of Photogrammetry: "Societe Fran~aise de
Photogrammetrie et Remote Sensing"? Unthinkable!
Faced with the necessity of expressing new words or
concepts, those who translate technical and scientific
texts resort to different approaches:
a. They try to find words in the target language (the
language into which the text is to be translated) that
mirror the semantic content of the original
bit
computer
337
octeto (Spanish - Spain)
ordenador (Spanish - Spain)
6
Should new words be translated into other languages?
Should the language be "scanned" in order to find
among its terminological wealth a suitable word and,
eventually, expand the meaning of that word (or
phrase) to embrace the new concept? Wouldn't such
an approach lead to unnecessary misunderstandings?
Can the linguistic characteristics of a language be
preserved by rejecting foreign words?
h. They import (incorporate) words
modification into the target language
We believe that science and the language that
communicates it should be aseptic, devoid of
national feelings; it should not bear the stamp
of a particular country but be, like mathematics,
universal. Definition and translation of words and
concepts is highly correlated as we have seen. The new
ISPRS Multilingual Dictionary, which is presented
at the Washington Congress, therefore includes a
voluminous glossary for Photogrammetry, Remote
Sensing and related fields (G. LINDIG et al.)
without
bit(s) - bit(s) (Spanish - Argentina)
pixel - pixel(s) (Spanish - Argentina)
drive - drive (Spanish)
scanner - scanner (German, but "Abtaster", too)
Literature
BAnR,
H.-P.
(Ed.):
Procesamiento
Digital de Imagenes-Aplicaciones en Fotogrametria y
Teledetecci6n
TZ-Verlagsgesellschaft, Rossdorf, GTZ Eschborn
1991
Should new words be assimilated the way they
come from the language that gave them birth,
including the original plural forms? Should the
original morphology (spelling) be transferred running
the risk of mispronounciation or misspelling? Can the
semantic aspect be preserved by using the same word?
LINDIG, G; BAHR, H.-P. and SIEVERS, J.:
ISPRS Multilingual Dictionary - General Status and
Progress of the German Language Group. ISPRS
Washington, Comm. VI 1992
c. They try to assimilate the word (or concept) to the
linguistic characteristics of the target language.
bit
pixel
bite(s)
scannerisation
SAPIR, E.: Language in Culture, 1941
WHORF, B. L.: Language, Thought and Reality.
S'elected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. MIT Press
1974
Should the new word be assimilated to the linguistic
characteristics of the target language giving it a
grammatical function, syntactic order, gender, plural,
tense forms, etc. ? Should its spelling be modified in
order to conform it to the rules of the target language?
Should the correct utterance of the original word be
transferred by writing it according to the phonetic
rules of the target language?
ZPF:
Zeitschrift flir Photogrammetrie und Fernerkundung
(Journal for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing)
Wichmann Verlag Karlsruhe, published since 1926
d. When using acronyms, they transform them
according to the initials letters of the words in the
target language
DTM
CPU
Modelo Digital del Terreno (MDT)
Digitales GeUindemodell (DGM)
Unidad Central de Procesamiento (UCP)
Should acronyms be translated?
e. they maintain the original acronyms but when
writing out the expression it is translated
CPU
PC
Conclusion
Unidad central de Procesamiento (CPU)
Computadora Personal (PC)
338